All the easy problems have pretty much been solved. What’s left is complexity that requires more than a narrow lens. I pity the politicians who are asked to resolve complex issues in a 90-second time frame during a debate. The list is long: hunger, infectious disease, refugees, undocumented immigrants, climate change, transnational crime, human trafficking, gender identification, religious freedom, terrorism, widening income disparity, Wall Street, lobbying, purchasing the presidency.
February 17, 2016 By 4 Comments
January 26, 2016 By 21 Comments
Championing Every Kind of Diversity—but Christian
In light of recent regulatory actions, several Christian universities have applied for a government-established exemption from Title IX. Most of the issues deal with gender identity, mission-fit hiring, and expectations regarding sexual behavior. Universities that apply for the exemption are being targeted by media and accused of doing everything allowable under the exemption.
According to the press, these universities are denying admission to pregnant mothers, expelling out-of-the closet students, and being homophobic to the Nth degree. I know a lot of Christian university presidents. This is neither the practice nor the desire of the ones I know.
So why are schools applying for the exemption?
January 22, 2016 By 2 Comments
Update on The 2015 Big Idea: Reducing College Student Debt
Last year I shared that my big idea for 2015 was to put a dent in college student debt. We have made a small beginning.
This past fall, 45 students became our test group for the Trevecca iWork program. To date, we are retaining all of them into the spring semester and they have paid $61,000 on their college bills as a group. In addition, each student has received basic training in workplace habits. All of our supervisors have been trained to mentor students toward workplace success. We will be adding more students to the test group this semester before aiming at 200 jobs this fall. We have companies lined up to provide jobs for our students.
October 21, 2015 By Leave a Comment
They Call Him “Hoz”
I think I just saw the finest example of classroom instruction that I have ever seen.
The room had no chairs but about 25 standing students. No desk, but a piano. No heavy technology, but a simple white marker board.
Mark Hosny, affectionately known as “The Hoz,” was teaching a group of music students. They were working on the practice of conducting a choir or musical rehearsal.
From the opening second, they were moving, exercising, breathing like musicians do, singing, responding to targeted questions, remembering what they had worked on before, stepping into the limelight and demonstrating a practice with the choir. They were performing at a remarkable level.
June 12, 2015 By 2 Comments
Trust
The essence of biblical covenant relationships is found in the Hebrew word, chesed. When people enter covenant, chesed—which is often translated as “loving-kindness” or “steadfast love”—is established between them. Trust is implicit to the covenant relationship and suggests that we intend to behave in certain faithful ways toward each other while expecting the same in return. The beginning assumption is peace, not conflict; trust, not suspicion.
The church today needs a greater degree of trust in at least three different areas.
Generational Trust
An older generation needs to trust the missional spirit of a younger generation as they seek to reach their changing world. The pessimism about the younger generation is not valid. Our youth are in touch with the same God who found us early in our lives and dreamed through us the church as it became under our leadership.
February 17, 2015 By Leave a Comment
What Happens When Dating Dies
In my last post, I introduced you to what’s happening in today’s relationship culture among young adults. Dating is actually dead, and rampant attachment anxiety means that “hooking up” is the norm. Men and women are not burdened with commitment in their relationships.
So, what does this mean for the next generation? I think it’s some pretty scary stuff.
January 6, 2015 By 5 Comments
The Big Idea I’ll Be Working On In 2015: Reduce College Student Debt
I suppose universities can make New Year’s resolutions. So here’s mine for Trevecca Nazarene University in 2015.
I resolve to find a way to reduce the debt of graduating students at Trevecca while simultaneously reducing the growing cost of unfunded aid to students.
Our students graduate with an average debt of about $21,000. This means some have more, some have less, and some have none. I could write about how this $21,000 is similar to the cost of a good used car, which will decrease in value the minute they drive it off the lot—while their investment in a college degree will repay itself about 47.6 times across the next 40 years. I’d invest in a proven return like this every day. But my resolve is to drive this average debt number into the teens and find a way to keep it there or lower.
August 19, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Today’s College Students Are Tomorrow’s Leaders
College campuses across the country are once again coming to life as students head back to school. The same is true at Trevecca Nazarene University here in Nashville. Our sidewalks and dorm hallways are busier these days as we’re all gearing up for the first day of the fall semester next week.
This has been on mind lately as I’ve been featured on a couple of websites. Please check out my guest posts at Ministry Matters and Student Leadership University.
Must Be Present to Win
Ever been at one of these? They are giving away stuff but you have to be there. No phone-ins or email registrations. You must be present, on the spot, in the moment… or you do not qualify.
Developing leaders is like this. We engage people in the very work we are doing as a shaping experience. At Trevecca Nazarene University, our chief administrative leaders are charged with identifying up-and-coming leaders who have the capacity to assume our role someday. …
Read the entire article at Student Leadership University’s blog here.
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My Top 10 Must-haves for College Students
Ah, August.
Summer’s winding down as retail store aisles fill up with pencils, markers, and glue. Ask any parent what’s top of their mind these days and I guarantee you’ll get an answer that sounds a lot like this: ‘back to school!’
Read the entire article at Ministry Matters here.
Here’s wishing all students a wonderful 2014-15 school year!
June 24, 2014 By 2 Comments
Is College Worth It?
Is college worth it?
This seems to be the big question these days. You know my prejudices before reading the rest of this post. And if I wrote only from the perspective of worldly wisdom, my answer would go like this:
The pay gap between college graduates and everyone else has reached a record high. “According to the new data, which is based on an analysis of Labor Department statistics by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, Americans with four-year college degrees made 98 percent more an hour on average in 2013 than people without a degree…. The decision not to attend college for fear that it’s a bad deal is among the most economically irrational decisions anybody could make in 2014.” (David Leonhardt, The Upshot, May 27, 2014) The value of a college education has never been higher. Trevecca students graduate with an average debt less than the price of a mid-sized used car and will go on to earn half-a-million to a million more during their lifetime than their non-degreed peers.
But this answer, while true, bows to the wrong God. Money has been elevated to a position once held by God, the ultimate justifier. President Obama and the US Department of Education are rolling out new requirements that the incomes of college graduates must be tracked for proof that they make money. The one common religion that encompasses the entire world is the pursuit of wealth. Now the only sanctioned reason for going to college is to make more money.
While I am committed to an education that enables a graduate to do great work, I believe the reason for a Christian university is much more radical. We are training cultural and economic missionaries who invade every field of human work with an alternate view of reality. Our graduates believe that the kingdom of God comes as we do the will of the Father on earth as it is done in heaven.
What if there was a college that graduated people marked by the character of God, whose work ethic was driven by their moral values, and whose concern for the neighbor made the world more just and gracious?
What if there was a college that taught its graduates how to make a life?
I went to one. I work at one. It’s called Trevecca. And it’s worth every penny.
January 28, 2014 By 3 Comments
Mentoring Young Adults: What Are We Thinking?
One of the better books I’ve read is Souls in Transition
